His Christmas Bride. Dana Corbit

him the room had fallen silent as the news broadcast moved to commercial break.

      “It’s a sad story,” Reverend Boggs began again as Dylan shut off the television. “Still, I feel God has a blessing planned here. I’m sorry to run, but I need to call some of the other church members.”

      “It won’t be necessary to make any more calls, Reverend.” Dylan waited as the others turned their surprised expressions his way. He couldn’t blame them—he wasn’t usually the idea man in this crowd, but he had to be this time. No one else was stepping forward, and he couldn’t turn his back on those little boys.

      “Look at all of us.” He held his hands wide to indicate the size of the group. “Sure, we can write a check, but I think we can do a lot more.” Out of the corner of his eye, Dylan could see Jenna watching him, a strange expression on her face. He pressed on. “Between our two families, we should volunteer to adopt the Dentons ourselves.”

      Everyone spoke up at once—that is, everyone except Jenna. She was too busy staring at Dylan, who didn’t sound at all like the Dylan she’d once called her best friend. Who was this take-charge guy? Her Dylan would have been more than happy to let other people make plans and then join in for the ride.

      That he’d spoken aloud the exact idea she’d been bouncing around in her head surprised her even more. How could they not do more for that poor family? Her worries about reconnecting with Dylan seemed small when compared to those of these young parents who had no place to live and no way to feed and clothe their children. It wasn’t right for her to warm herself by the fire while this family had been huddled under blankets, trying to shield their children from the cold.

      “He’s right,” Matthew said, his voice rising above the rest. “We have so much. We don’t need anything for Christmas. The Dentons will need everything.”

      “That’s a great idea,” Haley chimed in.

      “We have to help them,” Jenna told them. Her throat clogged with emotion as she tried to put herself in the shoes of those young parents. She could only imagine the hopelessness they felt.

      Mrs. Warren stood up, shaking her head. “I don’t know. That’s a big project you’re taking on, Dylan. We can help, but it might be better if we spread the load among various church members.” She frowned as if realizing more pitfalls. “And we would have to cancel some of our holiday plans—”

      “Not cancel, Mom,” Dylan said, standing beside her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Just tweak. Remember, you wanted us to spend quality time with the Scotts during the holidays, and what could be better than spending that time helping others?”

      “We wanted to share our Christmas traditions, too.” Mrs. Warren’s face fell in disappointment.

      “And we will,” Dylan assured her. “Some of them.”

      “We already have,” Logan said. “We found the tree.”

      Mrs. Warren shrugged as she sat on the hearth. “If you’re sure we can handle that much work…”

      “Of course we can.” Dylan nodded as if to emphasize his words. His mother’s reticence appeared to surprise him. Jenna, too, found the woman’s reaction strange. Mrs. Warren was one of the most kind-hearted people she knew, so Jenna assumed something else was bothering her.

      “What did you have in mind?” Matthew asked after a long pause.

      “We could put some of the money and effort we would have used for Mom’s great list of activities toward making Christmas bright for someone else.”

      Although Dylan glanced his mother’s way, the first response came from someone smaller.

      “Do we have to give away our Christmas tree?” Lizzie asked, her eyes sad.

      “Of course not, silly.” Dylan crossed the room and scooped up his niece. “But don’t you think that other family should have a nice Christmas, too?”

      When she nodded, he tugged on one of her braids and lowered her to the floor. Jenna couldn’t help smiling at the sweet gesture. Dylan really seemed to adore Lizzie. The two of them had been so inseparable at the wedding that Jenna had been ashamed to be jealous of a child.

      He turned to the minister. “Now, Reverend, you and Mrs. Boggs have met the Dentons. Can you give us an idea of what their needs are?”

      “You’ll need to start with the basics. Food, clothing and shelter. Lila and I are planning to meet with the family for breakfast tomorrow morning to find out the specifics. We wanted them to rest tonight.”

      Dylan nodded. “Would you mind if a few of us joined you so you could introduce us?”

      “That might be best,” Lila answered for her husband.

      “You should go, Dylan.” Matthew gestured toward him from the sofa. “This was your idea.”

      Dylan appeared surprised by his older brother’s suggestion, but he nodded. He was probably as used to Matthew assuming plans in his family as Jenna was with Caroline taking over organizational duties in theirs.

      “I would like to go.”

      He smiled that boyish Dylan smile that Jenna had missed while he’d been dodging her efforts to talk to him all evening. He hadn’t been mean exactly, unless treating her as if she was invisible counted as mean. She marveled at his compassion for the Dentons. She could only hope that one day he would send some of that kindness her way and finally forgive her.

      Jenna realized that she’d never thought to appreciate Dylan for the gift he was. She wished he would give her the chance to tell him how sorry she was for that and to show him she wasn’t the same selfish person he used to know. God had made sure of that change.

      “Who else would like to join us for breakfast?” Reverend Boggs asked as he took a seat next to his wife.

      Jenna’s mother spoke up. “Caroline should go.”

      Caroline was already shaking her head when Matthew offered a suggestion.

      “Jenna should go. She and Dylan are buddies, and they haven’t seen each other in a while.”

      Matthew probably thought he was helping his brother out by offering him an escape from their mothers’ matchmaking efforts, but Dylan looked like a man stuck between two unacceptable choices and hoping for a third.

      Jenna jumped in before he found one. “That sounds great. I’d love to have the chance to meet the Dentons.”

      She knew better than to look at Dylan because his gaze wouldn’t be tossing daisies at her. Dylan probably thought she’d only accepted Matthew’s suggestion to get the chance to spend time with him, but it was more than that. The Denton family’s story had touched her, too, and she wanted to reach out to them.

      “That’s fine,” Dylan said finally, but he didn’t look at her. Instead, he grabbed a legal pad out of the drawer in his mother’s roll-top desk.

      “We’ll know more tomorrow, but we can divide up the general areas now. Housing, furniture, clothing and food.” He wrote as he spoke. “If we split into teams, we’ll be able to accomplish more.”

      “They should be teams of two, one from each family,” Jenna said the moment the idea popped into her head. “I’ll work with Dylan.”

      “Wait.” Amy exchanged a glance with Trina before she turned back to Dylan. “I thought it might be nice if you worked with—”

      Caroline stood to interrupt. “I’d like to get the chance to spend time with my new brother-in-law.” She turned to Matthew. “Okay with you?”

      “Fine with me.”

      “I’ll work with Jenna, then.”

      Although Dylan’s tone might have been more enthusiastic if he’d just volunteered to clean